Chelan Boat Crash Kills 2; Child Survives

CHELAN - A 6-year-old girl survived a boat accident on Lake Chelan that killed her father and her grandfather, the Chelan County sheriff's office says.

Byron M. Bloor, 73, of Issaquah and his son, Byron C. Bloor, 43, of Playa Del Ray, Calif., were found dead Sunday in their boat. It had crashed full speed into a wall of rock near Riddle Creek on the lake's south shore, sheriff's Deputy Joe Herron said.

The younger Bloor's daughter, Jennifer, was treated at Lake Chelan Community Hospital and released to relatives, Herron said.

The girl had been sitting in a rear seat, facing the back of the boat, and was unable to see what happened.

The elder Bloor, who owned the 16-foot Boston Whaler boat, was driving.

"We probably will never know exactly what happened," Herron said.

County Coroner Jerry Rappe said he will conduct autopsies to determine whether the elder Bloor had a heart attack or some other condition that might have caused him to lose control of the boat.

"My main goal is to find out why the grandfather would drive that boat right into an obvious cliff," Rappe said. "It's absolutely a total mystery."